Articles by Manuel Bueno
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Monday
December 22
2008BoP Economic Prospects for 2009: Not Looking Good
A couple of friends of mine have already asked me “So what if a couple of banks go bankrupt? Who cares about bad mortgages? What is all the big deal about?” It is hard to explain in few words why the financial sector is so vital in modern economies, when countries are as strongly...
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Thursday
December 11
2008Three Competing Views of the Informal Economy and Economic Development
Although we in the BoP sector often talk about the role of the informal sector as an important factor (both as a competitor and as an ally) when crafting sustainable models for low income communities, precious little has gone into analyzing it. One of the most important reasons for this lack of...
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Monday
December 8
2008Call for Nominations: Learning from Successes in Agricultural Development
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is launching a new project called “Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Global Agriculture.” With the help of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project aims to document evidence on what works in agriculture?what sorts...
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Tuesday
November 25
2008Forthcoming CGAP Conference about Mobile Phone Banking: December 11th
For all our readers who have been following the mobile phone banking debate, there is a great opportunity coming up to hear about first hand experiences of the implementation of? mobile banking solutions at scale in multiple markets. CGAP - the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor - is...
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Monday
November 24
2008What is the BoP Sector Doing to Improve Gender Equality?
Although gender equality is a desirable aim in itself, there are also underlying economic reasons for female empowerment. In the words of the 2007 Global Monitoring Report (partially devoted to gender issues) from the World Bank: “Improving gender equality reduces poverty and stimulates...
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Tuesday
October 28
2008Mobile Phones and The Promise of Bringing the Base of the Pyramid into Networks
After having devoted my last posts to more abstract aspects of the?base of the pyramid, Jim Rosenberg, from our sister organization CGAP, kindly brought me to the ground again with an e-mail about how to connect the BoP to Internet through their mobiles.The beauty of the mobile...
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Wednesday
October 22
2008An ?Easy? Step-by-Step Guide to Mobile Banking
Last July CGAP issued a new report about the main building blocks for any bank that is thinking about offering mobile phone financial services to its customers. (Shame on me for doing this post so late). Banking on Mobiles: Why, How, for Whom? is, not surprisingly, very good report. After...
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Monday
October 6
2008Want to Quit Smoking? Try a Mobile Phone
The base of the pyramid conversation often involves talking about the size and composition of BoP markets (which, in fact, was the topic of my previous post) and how to create business models that sustainably create wealth for the people in those communities and the firms involved.I recently...
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